I had always been fascinated by the stars, how they were millions of miles away and yet they still shined so brightly that I was able to see them here. How each and every one of them was different, unique even, this was what I loved about stars. But as much as I loved all the stars equally, there will always be that one that stands out the most, she's the brightest star in my eyes.

I was starting to regret my decision to come. Eli had invited us all over to Nozomi's to have a catch up, seen as many of us haven't seen the third years since they graduated. I reluctantly accepted, thinking it might have been nice to see how Nozomi and Eli were doing now that they had finally gotten together and to find out how Nico was doing with pursuing her dream. Bad decision Maki, really bad decision. Unbeknownst to everyone but me, Nozomi had managed to spike the drinks and get everyone drunk, how surprising. Thankfully, keeping a watchful eye on her, I noticed the surreptitious glances she sent round and avoided drinking anything she handed out. It didn't take long for the people like Rin, Honoka and Umi to get drunk and start blabbing out things from love confessions to just stupid nonsense. Drunk Umi letting a slightly tipsy Kotori know how much she has always loved her and always will and the other two laughing at how stupid the other one is. Not long after Nico, Eli, Hanayo and Kotori had finally joined the other three in being drunk. Only Nozomi and I had been left, knowing neither of us were going to get drunk anytime soon I stood up to get some fresh air and headed straight for the balcony.

The breeze was slightly nippy but that hardly bothered me, my thoughts were on the stars, watching, admiring them from afar. The wind lifted the hair resting on my shoulder, picking it up and throwing it behind my back. There was nothing but the sound of the wind filling up my ears, the world already dead around us, right now it felt like time had stopped, nothing but me watching the stars was happening right at this moment.

I was brought out of my day-dream when I heard the faint sound of the sliding glass doors behind me. I had expected Nozomi or even Rin to disturb my peace, what I had not expected was to turn around to my brightest star.

"Nico-chan." The words left my mouth with no effort. She looked up at me with a coy smile, her drunkenness meaning no emotions could be hidden.

"Maki-chan." Nico-chan's breathless reply left my heart thumping wildly, how long had it been since I had properly spoken to Nico-chan?

"Been a while, huh?" Nico-chan began casually, stepping past me and leaning her arms on the railing.

"It has." I kept it simple for there was only so much I could hold inside all at once. Glancing at her, I noticed her eyes glued to my face.

"I've missed you." It was but a mere whisper that sent my heart racing, made my palms sweaty and got my whole face to heat up. Nico-chan sure knew how to get a girl all flustered. When I looked back at her, I watched as she giggled lightly before smiling happily at me.

"Is Maki-chan blushing?" Nico-chan poked at me, teasing me for fun, well tonight I'd get my own back.

"I've missed you too, you know. It's not the same without you around." I spoke with a small smile gracing my lips as I turned my body to face her. The look on her face meant I had caught her off guard, the slightly agape mouth and pink tinting her cheeks only made her shine brighter.

"W-well of course you did! W-who w-wouldn't miss the great Nico-Ni!" Nico-chan shot up from her perch, jumping up with her trademark pose. At the last minute though she stumbled and was falling right in my direction. Fumbling to catch meant losing my balance and the both of us crashing down together. When I had opened my eyes again the first thing I saw was red, bright shiny red eyes looking back at mine.

"Ah, sorry." That sorry was awkward, well beyond awkward.

"Uh, it's fine." Nice one Maki.

Yep, this really was awkward, I could feel Nico-chan's breath on my mouth and I knew she was barely holding herself up, her body not as strong when intoxicated. I looked forward, purposefully trying not to trail down her face to look at the same lips I've dreamed of tasting.

"Hey Maki-chan, can I ask something?" I didn't get to reply before she carried on anyway.

"Can I kiss you right now?" Pause. Did I hear her right? I'm not dreaming, am I? I'm not going to wake up any second and be really disappointed, right? Watching as her eyes slipped down to glance at my lips meant I really wasn't dreaming. Quickly gathering any courage I had left in me, I leaned up, stopping to whisper one word.

"Yes."

My whole body felt as if it was on fire, the kiss, obviously being our first, was messy and uneven at first but once we found our rhythm, it was like fireworks were being set off around us. This was not how I had imagined it, it wasn't slow, it was fast and awkward, not like in the movies at all. Feeling uncomfortable on the ground, wrapping my arms around her body, I lifted her and me up to a sitting position. She ran her hands through my hair, stopping to lightly grip the hairs on my neck, my hands were sliding down her body to rest at her sides. The kiss was slowly melting away as I felt it should before anything else could happen. Her breathing was rather ragged as she looked me in the eye.

"I love you."